6th Analysis: Universal Special Rules - Part 1

Just before we get this post underway, I just want to quickly mention something. I am not going to be going over the new shiny special rules, I'm only going through how I think that the changes made to existing universal special rules will effect certain aspects of the game. The reason for this is simply because as far as I know there aren't any units to which they apply yet (I haven't read the FAQs yet - yes I know I'm a bad player - I'm trying to digest the main rulebook first), and so discussing them would be moot as they won't effect the game initally. So, starting from the top:

Acute Senses:

This has changed quite a bit from the last edition of the game. Rather than applying to night fighting, it now makes it more likely that a unit will arrive on the side of the board that you want when outflanking. Now the only codex that I know that comprehensively includes this rule pretty much across the board are Space Wolves, and the only unit (bar a lucky - or unlucky depending on the context - roll on the warlord powers chart) that you will find outflanking from the book are Wolf Scouts.

So, horrah! They are now more reliable, but GW took away my ability to slap Melta Bombs straight onto vehicles after doing so (if they hadn't Wolf Scouts would be even more terrifying), so yeah. Still, this gives me a little bit more justification about continuing to take Wolf Scouts over Lone Wolves, although I am planning on picking up some Space Wolf Terminators and trying them out.

Overall I think that this is good for Necrons, as now the only army that has any ability to see them through their shield of night are Dark Eldar (I'm not counting Tau as their units have to pay to see through darkness).

Fearless:

Nothing much has really changed here, but I think that I should just quickly mention one little thing. Fearless units are now the only ones that can be tied up with something that they cannot physically kill, as they cannot choose to fail a morale check for our weapons are useless and so must always stick in a combat until the end.

Feel No Pain:

There is a bit of discussion going on as to whether this has been nerfed or not. This is because, feel no pain has been dropped to a 5+ save, but, now the only way to cancel it out is to cause instant death to a model, so it is much harder to do so. Honestly, I don't think that this is going to make too much difference out of combat. Where you would most commonly see this used is on squads of multi-wound models like Paladins and Nobz, but what is going to be fired at them is likely to be 'doubling them out' anyway, so you wouldn't have got to use your save.

However, when it comes to clsoe combat, I think that it has improved. A Nob or Paladin squad would munch a Tactical Squad or similar anyway without the need for feel no pain, but when they come up against other units that can handle themselves in combat, then it gets useful. The problem was, such units usually sported a decent number of power weapons and similar, once again invalidating feel no pain. This is why I believe that it has improved in close combat, as it gives you a bit more of an edge against harder close combat units, as power weapons don't cancel it out anymore.

Having said that, I don't really think that it is worth spending all of those points on an Apothecary in a Paladin squad, for Nobz however, access to feel no pain is really cheap, so I'll continue to take that all day long.

Fleet:

Another short one, this rule has got a slight nerf, as you are no longer able to run and assault, you only get to re-roll your run dice or charge distance dice. Where before you were guarenteed a charge range including the run of 7" hitting a maximum of 12" now you simply get a re-roll, which can mean that you may not get into charge range at all (this happened to me with my Nobz mob on Saturday Waaaghing, first roll, 4", second roll 5", only needed 6 off 2D6).

Deep Strike:

Short again, all that's happened is that the deep strike mishap table has changed, reducing the odds of a unit being destroyed and increasing the chances of it being delayed. Making life a lot safer for armies like Chaos Daemons, which is even more important given that now if they finish a game turn without any models on the board they automatically lose the game as though they were tabled. Come on, they needed the rulebook not to hurt there power in some places.

Right, I think that I'll conclude this post here, otherwise it's going to get lengthy and I'll start slacking and talking rubbish as I'm tired. The second part of this post will be up tomorrow, and if we need a part 3 that will come on Friday. Ok, until then.